Prayers for the Week of January 17, 2021

Please feel free to join us in the prayers offered in worship, Sunday, January 17, 2021:

Loving God,

from the deep well of your grace,

you have created everything that is,

and loved us from the beginning,

all the way till now,

and out into forever.

Your grace calls us

into life into community,

calls us to truth-telling,

calls us to dismantle ways of living,

systems and structures,

that harm,

and to build with you

a world full of dignity, well-being, and freedom,

for all people

We give you thanks and praise.

This morning, we bring to you

the cares and concerns of a troubled world.

We come to you as the world aches in pandemic.

We pray for your healing power

to be made manifest in us.

We pray for nurses, and doctors,

and all who work in hospitals

and the healing professions.

We give you thanks for their courage and care,

and ask that you gird them with strength.

We acknowledge our collective, national

lack of self-discipline,

which has caused suffering and death,

help us to see and mend our ways.

Give us the courage and common sense

to embrace ways of living that lead to more life.

We ask for that same grace

to lead us to ways of living

that give better care to creation –

that open our hearts to ways

that we might participate

in the healing of the Earth we have damaged

and thrown into climate emergency.

We pray for an end to systemic racism –

for hearts to see and hear and comprehend

the role that we play in systems that oppress –

and the will to repent and change.

In our national life,

we pray for a steady and constitutional transition of power.

We pray for the safety of all who will be a part of that transition,

and particularly for our elected leaders

who will attend the inauguration,

for Vice President Elect Harris, President Elect Biden,

Speaker Pelosi, and Vice President Pence.

Keep them safe, and bless them

with all the wisdom and compassion

they will need to lead.

And we bring you the cares of our daily lives –

we pray healing for those who are sick,

comfort for those who are dying,

and for those who mourn the loss of loved ones;

shelter for those who are unhoused;

enough food for those who hunger;

a fair wage and a job with dignity

for those who labor.

We bring you our hurts and our cares,

and pray for healing,

giving thanks for

your abiding love

and amazing grace.

We thank you for the gift of each other,

and for the gift of life to live together with you.

With one voice, we join our voices

with all who have ever called on you,

praying the prayer that Jesus taught:

Our Father/Mother, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.